Communication event

ABSTRACT

In a communication event via a network between a requesting user, operating a first user device, and a responding user, operating a second user device, each of the user devices captures a stream of audio data, transmits the captured stream of audio data to the other user device via the network for receiving thereat, and outputs, to its user, the audio stream received from the other user device. A video exchange function is initially suppressed for the communication event for both of the user devices. The first user device transmits to the second user device a request to stop suppressing video. If the responding user does not accept the request, the video exchange function continues to be suppressed for both of the user devices. If the responding user accepts the request, the video exchange function stops being suppressed for both of the user devices.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims priority to United Kingdom Patent ApplicationNo. GB 1708473.2, filed on May 26, 2017, the entire contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

This application claims priority to United Kingdom Patent ApplicationNo. GB 17084780.1, filed on May 26, 2017, the entire contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of this disclosure relate to a communication event between twousers via a network.

BACKGROUND

Modern user devices provide an increasingly wide array of options forusers to communicate with each other, as more and more communicationapplications (apps) are developed for such devices. This applies inparticular to mobile devices, such as smartphones, as the range ofmobile apps developed for popular mobile platforms has grownsignificantly in recent years. Such applications include, for example,basic messaging applications that allow users to conduct conversationsin real-time via text exchange, multimedia messaging applications thatextend this to the exchange of media content, such as imagesemojis/emoticons, gifs, short audio/video clips etc.; VoIP (Voice overIP) applications that allow real-time audio and video calls to beconducted over (primarily) the Internet; social media apps; and datingapps, among others.

Dating apps, and in particular mobile dating apps, have becomesignificantly more popular in recent years. Whilst so-called “onlinedating” has been around for some time, historically this was seensomething of a niche activity. However, though newer dating apps, suchas Tinder, online dating is becoming increasingly mainstream. A keydriver in this has been the availability of dating services onsmartphones. Not only does this provide users with significantly moreflexibility in terms of where and when they can choose to engage inonline dating activity, but certain mobile dating apps have also beenextremely effective when it comes to harnessing the functionality ofmodern smartphones—in particular, their location awareness and advancedtouchscreen functions (one example being Tinder with its location-basedmatching and “swipe right/swipe left” interface).

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a method ofeffecting a communication event via a network between a requesting user,operating a first user device, and a responding user, operating a seconduser device, the method comprising: initiating the communication event,in which each of the user devices captures a stream of audio data,transmits the captured stream of audio data to the other user device viathe network for receiving thereat, and outputs, to its user, the audiostream received from the other user device; wherein a video exchangefunction is initially suppressed for the communication event for both ofthe user devices, by first and second video suppression componentsassociated with the first and second user devices respectively, and thefirst user device transmits to the second user device, in response to auser input from the requesting user, a request to stop suppressing videofor the communication event; and wherein if the responding user does notaccept the request, both of the video suppression components continuesuppressing the video exchange function for both of the user devices,wherein if the responding user accepts the request, both of the videosuppression components stop suppressing the video exchange function forboth of the user devices in response, wherein each of the user devicesimplements the video exchange function by capturing a stream of videodata, transmitting the captured stream of video data to the other userdevice via the network for receiving thereat, and displaying, to itsuser, the stream of video data received from the other user device.

In other words, suppression of the video exchange function as betweenthe requesting user and the responding user is only terminated (i.e.video is only “unlocked”) via mutual agreement of both users and,moreover, if and when it is unlocked, it is unlocked for both of theusers, i.e. in an “all or nothing” manner. This provides security forthe users as both of the users know that all video will remainsuppressed until both users are ready to stop suppressing it, and eitherof the users can feel comfortable in requesting unsuppressed video, whenready, as he/she knows that his/her own video will only be unsuppressedif and when the other user's video is also unsuppressed.

The preferred embodiments of the invention that are described belowincorporate this functionality into a dating app, such as a mobiledating app. Respective instances of the dating app are executed on eachof the user devices, which may be smartphones. The security provided bythe invention is particularly important in the context of a dating app,as in that context it is likely the users have never met before and maytherefore not be comfortable with sharing (full) video immediately.

“Suppressed” in the context of the invention can mean that the videosstreams are blocked altogether, or it can mean that effects are appliedto the video streams to obscure their visual content, and in particularto conceal any faces therein. For the latter, video streams are stillexchanged when the video exchange function is suppressed, however “full”video without such obfuscation (in which the faces are no longerconcealed) requires mutual agreement. In this respect, the “videoexchange function” encompasses the full chain of signal processing fromthe point at which a video stream is captured at one of the user devicesto the point at which it is displayed at the other user device. Thevideo suppression can be effected at any point or points in that signalprocessing chain, at either user device or even at some intermediatenetwork device, such as a server or other intermediate node of thenetwork. A “video suppression component associated with a user device”means a functional component that blocks or obscures the video streamcaptured at that device (or prevents its capture altogether). The videosuppression component need not be implemented at the user device it isassociated with necessarily, e.g. it could also be implemented at theother device to block or obscure the stream after it has been received,or elsewhere in the network.

Accordingly, in embodiments of the invention, the user devices may alsocapture, transmit and display the video streams when the video exchangefunction is suppressed, and each of the video suppression components maysuppress the video exchange function for its associated user device byprocessing the stream of video data captured or received at that userdevice to obscure its visual content.

On the one hand, this still provides the aforementioned benefits interms of user security though the obfuscation of the video until bothusers agree to end this, but on the other hand does so whilst providinga more engaging conversation experience as there is still an engagingvisual component of the communication event before then.

For example, the visual content may be obscured by processing the streamof video data such that a partially transparent overlay is rendered onthe stream of video data when displayed. As another example, the visualcontent may be obscured by applying a face- concealing filter to thestream of video data. For example an “Instagram” style filter that isdistorts the user's face enough to disguise the user's identity, orwhich replaces the user's face with an artificial face that tracks theuser's facial movements.

Alternatively, the video exchange function may be suppressed for each ofthe user devices by preventing the capturing, receiving or displaying ofvideo data at that user device, whereby no video data of thecommunication event is displayed at either of the user devices when thevideo exchange function is suppressed.

In embodiments, the user input that instigates the request may be agesture on a touchscreen of the first user device. For example, thegesture may be a drag and release gesture (which may be verticallydownwards, but could be in any other direction depending on theimplementation). This is somewhat similar to what is known as an“elastic refresh”, however rather than refreshing content, here thegesture is being used to trigger a request to stop suppressing video.

As the user performs the drag and release gesture by dragging along thetouchscreen of the first user device, in response a level of obfuscationapplied to the video stream received at the first user device from thesecond user device may be reduced before the request has been accepted,whereby the visual content remains obscured but with a lower level ofobfuscation,

For example, where the visual content is obfuscated by a partiallytransparent overlay, as the user performs the drag and release gestureby dragging along the touchscreen of the first user device, in responsethe partially transparent overlay rendered on the stream of video datacaptured at the second user device may be moved, in a direction of thedragging, from an initial position in which the visual content of thestream is fully obscured to a new position such that a limited area ofthat visual content is no longer obscured.

This has the benefit of providing intuitive visual feedback as thegesture is performed: moving the overlay to reveal a small amount ofunobscured video as the user performs the gesture indicates that thegesture the user is currently performing relates to the removal of theoverlay and the consequent de-obfuscation of the video. That is, thebehaviour of the UI as the user performs the gesture is closely coupledto the nature of the request that will be sent when the user completesit, as performing the gesture removes the overlay from a limited area ofthe video and completing the gesture sends a request to the other userfor the overlay to be removed entirely.

The same visual feedback benefits apply more generally whenever thelevel of obfuscation is reduced slightly in other ways as the userperforms the gesture, as the behaviour of the UI conveys the purpose ofthe gesture.

For example, as the user performs the drag and release gesture bydragging along the touchscreen of the first user device, in response anopacity of the overlay may be reduced from an initial non-zero value toa new non-zero value, thereby reducing the level of obfuscation.

Upon completion of the gesture, the partially transparent overlay mayreturn to the initial position or opacity to reverse the increase.

The limited area of unobscured visual content may have a size thatincreases as the user drags further along the touchscreen up to amaximum size. The opacity may decreases as the user performs the gesturedown to a minimum opacity.

Where, the visual content is obscured by applying a face-concealingfilter to the stream of video data, the level of obfuscation may bereduced by adapting at least one parameter of the face-concealingfilter, to reduce an extent to which a face in the visual content isconcealed.

The responding user may accept the request by making a first gesture ona touchscreen of the second user device, and reject the request bymaking a second gesture on the touchscreen of the second user device.

The first and second gestures may both be instigated by a drag action onthe touchscreen of the second device in an initial direction, whereinthe first gesture is completed by a subsequent drag and release actionin one of the directions perpendicular to the initial direction, and thesecond gesture is completed by a subsequent drag and release action inthe other direction perpendicular to the initial direction.

As another example, the first gesture may be a swipe in a firstdirection and the second gesture may be a swipe in an opposingdirection.

Each of the users may have an associated identifier held in a database,wherein the identifiers are paired with each other in the database allowthe communication event between the users to be initiated. The useridentifiers in the database may be paired with each other using apairing algorithm (matching algorithm). That is, such that users canonly initiate communication events with each other once they have beenpaired by the pairing algorithm.

In response to the identifiers being paired, each of the pairedidentifiers may be rendered available to the user device operated by theother user.

Each of the identifiers may be a user identifier or a network address,for example.

The user identifiers in the database may be paired with each other, bythe pairing algorithm, based on one or more of the following pairingcriteria: age, gender, location, friendship preferences, datingpreferences, interests, and sexual orientation.

The pairing algorithm may be a randomized pairing algorithm.

For each of the users, at least one engagement score for that user maybe held in the database in association with that user's identifier.

The user identifiers in the database may be paired with each other, bythe pairing algorithm, based on their associated engagement scores.

The communication event may be conducted via respective applicationsexecuted on the user devices, wherein for each of the users, at leastone engagement score for that user is held in a database in associationan identifier associated with that user, which is increased as that userengages with the application executed on his or her user device.

In response to a user's engagement score reaching an engagementthreshold, a function of the application may be unlocked for that userin response.

The application function may be a discovery function which, whenunlocked for a user, allows that user to obtain information held in thedatabase about other users for whom the discovery function has also beenunlocked.

The communication event between the requesting and responding users maybe initiated by one of those users after the discovery function has beenunlocked for both of those users, using information about the other userobtained from the database via the discovery function by the userinitiating the communication event.

If the responding user accepts the request, the responding user'sengagement score may be incremented in response (thus affecting futurepairings for that user in the case that users are paired based on theirengagement scores).

The responding user's engagement score may be incremented by an amountwhich is determined in dependence on an amount of time taken by theresponding user to accept the request.

The requesting user's engagement score may be incremented in response tothe responding user accepting the request or in response to therequesting user initiating the request (thus affecting future pairingsfor that user in the case that users are paired based on theirengagement scores).

The number of requests to stop suppressing video that the requestinguser can instigate to the responding user may be limited by a requestthreshold.

If the request is not accepted by the responding user within a timelimit, it may be that it cannot be accepted thereafter. That is, therequest may “expire” at the end of the time interval.

The second user device may display a notification of the request to theresponding user, and the notification may be updated dynamically toconvey an amount of time remaining to accept the request.

A corresponding notification may be displayed at the first user deviceto the requesting user, to indicate to the requesting user the amount oftime remaining.

With expiring requests, the engagement score may be incremented as afunction of the amount of time remaining to accept the request when therequest is accepted. That is, the amount of time left until the requestexpires.

The video exchange function may be suppressed for each of the userdevices by preventing the capturing, receiving or displaying of videodata at that user device, whereby no video data of the communicationevent is displayed at either of the user devices when the video exchangefunction is suppressed. That is, to block video for both users.

At each of the user devices, an avatar image associated with the otheruser may be displayed when the video exchange function is suppressed,which is replaced by the other user's video stream when the suppressionstops.

The first video suppression component associated with the first userdevice may be implemented at the second user device, to obscure or blockthe stream of video data received from the first user device, and thesecond video suppression component associated with the second userdevice may be implemented at the first user device, to obscure or blockthe stream of video data received from the second user device.

Alternatively, the first and second video suppression components may beimplemented at the first and second user devices respectively.

Where the request is instigated with a gesture, and the same gesture isperformed on the touchscreen after the request has been accepted, inresponse the first user device may display at least one selectableoption relating to the communication event. That is, the gesture may be“re-purposed” once the request has been accepted, to render optionsavailable for the communication event. These are preferably options thatare rendered relevant by the removal of the video obfuscation. Forexample, the at least one option may be selectable to control the videoexchange function. For example, the at least one option is selectable tocontrol the capturing of the stream of video data at the first userdevice.

A second aspect of the invention is directed to a method of effecting acommunication event via a network between a requesting user, operating afirst user device, and a responding user, operating a second userdevice, the method comprising: initiating the communication event, inwhich each of the user devices captures a stream of audio data,transmits the captured stream of audio data to the other user device viathe network for receiving thereat, and outputs, to its user, the audiostream received from the other user device; wherein a video exchangefunction is initially suppressed for the communication event for atleast the second user device, by a video suppression componentassociated with the second user device, and the first user devicetransmits to the second user device, in response to a user input fromthe requesting user during the communication event, a request to stopsuppressing video for the communication event; and wherein if theresponding user does not accept the request, the video suppressioncomponent continues suppressing the video exchange function for at leastthe second user device, wherein if the responding user accepts therequest, the video suppression component stops suppressing the videoexchange function for the second user device in response, wherein theuser devices implement the video exchange function by: at least thesecond user device capturing a stream of video data and transmitting thecaptured stream of video data to the first user device via the networkfor receiving thereat, and the first device displaying, to its user, thestream of video data received from the second user device.

In embodiments, the user input may be a gesture on a touchscreen of thefirst user device.

The gesture may be a drag and release gesture.

The second user device also captures and transmits the video stream whenthe video exchange function is suppressed, and the video suppressioncomponent may suppress the video exchange function for the second userdevice by processing the stream of video data captured at the seconduser device to obscure its visual content.

As the user performs the drag and release gesture by dragging along thetouchscreen of the first user device, a level of obfuscation applied tothe video stream received at the first user device from the second userdevice may be reduced in response, before the request has been accepted,whereby the visual content remains obscured but with a lower level ofobfuscation.

The visual content may be obscured by processing the stream of videodata such that a partially transparent overlay is rendered on the streamof video data when displayed.

In embodiments of the second aspect, any feature of the first aspect orany embodiment thereof can be implemented.

It is noted that, whilst in the first aspect of the invention, mutualagreement is needed before video suppression is terminated, and is onlyever terminated for both users simultaneously, the second aspect of theinvention can also be applied with one-way agreements. In such ascenario, both Alice and Bob's video would be obscured or blockedinitially. When (say) Bob sends a request to Alice and Alice accepts it,suppression of Alice's video stops so that Bob can now see Alice.However, Bob's video remains blocked or obscured, until Alice requeststo end this and Bob accepts. Although less preferred in some contexts,this may nonetheless be viable in other contexts, and still providessecurity as each user retains control over when their own video isunlocked.

Other aspects of this disclosure relates to computer-implemented controlof a display to render a user interface.

A user interface (UI/UX) refers to a mechanism by which a user and acomputer can interact with one another. A graphical user interface (GUI)may be rendered on a display of a user device, such as a smartphone, anda user can interact with the GUI using an input device of the userdevice, such as a touchscreen. With modern UI's on touchscreen devicesin particular, gesture control may be used as a means of interactingwith the GUI. One example is a so-called “pull down to refresh” gesturethat is found in many apps, whereby the user performs a drag and releasegesture, by dragging a finger (e.g. thumb) along a touchscreen displayand releasing it from the touchscreen to refresh content currently shownon the display, for example to refresh a web-page, check for new emailor other messages, refresh a social media feed etc.

A third aspect of the invention is directed to a computer-implementedmethod of rendering a user interface, the method comprising thefollowing steps: at a user interface controller, receiving visualcontent to be displayed on a display of a user device, wherein the userinterface controller generates obfuscation data for obscuring the visualcontent and controls the display to render a user interface on which thevisual content is obscured according to the obfuscation data; andtransmitting, from the user device to a remote device, a request to stopobscuring the visual content, wherein the request is transmitted inresponse to a drag gesture detected at the user device; wherein as thedrag gesture is performed, the user interface controller responds bymodifying the obfuscation data to reduce a level of obfuscation appliedto the visual content before the request has been accepted, whereby thevisual content remains obscured but with a lower level of obfuscation,wherein if the request is subsequently accepted at the remote device, inresponse the user interface controller controls the display to stopobscuring the visual content, thereby rendering it fully visible on thedisplay.

This has the benefit of providing intuitive visual feedback as thegesture is performed: reducing the level of obfuscation slightly, as theuser performs the gesture, indicates that the gesture the user iscurrently performing relates to the de-obfuscation of the video. Thatis, the behaviour of the UI as the user performs the gesture is closelycoupled to the nature of the request that will be sent when the usercompletes it, as performing the gesture slightly de-obfuscates thevisual content and completing the gesture sends a request to the otheruser for the obfuscation to be removed altogether.

The gesture can be the same as or similar to that normally performed torefresh content, but rather than refreshing content, the action thistriggers is the sending of a request to remove the video obfuscation.

In embodiments, the user interface may obscure the visual content byrendering an overlay of the user interface, the overlay obscuring thevisual content, wherein the user interface controller reduces the levelof obfuscation by modifying or moving the overlay, and stops obscuringthe visual content by removing the overlay.

The user interface controller may reduce the level of obfuscation bymoving the overlay in a direction associated with the drag gesture suchthat a limited area of the visual content is no longer obscured by theoverlay, and is thus visible on the display unobscured before therequest has been accepted.

Alternatively or in addition, the user interface controller may reducethe level of obfuscation by reducing an opacity of the overlay from aninitial non-zero value to a lower non-zero value. The initial value maybe such that the overlay is partially transparent (so that the obscuredcontent is always slightly visible).

The user interface controller may obscure the visual content by applyinga face-concealing filter to the visual content, wherein the userinterface controller reduces the level of obfuscation by adapting theface-concealing filter.

The request may be transmitted to the remote device for accepting orrejecting by a user of the remote device.

For example, the request may be transmitted during a communication eventbetween a user of the user device and the user of the remote device.

Alternatively, the request may be accepted or rejected automatically atthe remote device using information contained in the request.

The information may comprise an identifier of the visual content.

The information may comprise an identifier of the user device or anidentifier of a user of the user device (that is, one or both of thoseidentifiers).

The remote device may use the identifiers to determine whether the userdevice or user is authorized to access the identified content.

The remote device may transmit at least one message back to the userdevice requesting further information, wherein the requested informationis used by the remote device to determine whether to accept or rejectthe request.

The requested information may comprise payment information.

The visual content may be visual content of a stream of video datareceived at the user interface controller.

The visual content may be received at the user interface controller fromthe remote device, or it may be received from a separate device.

The user interface controller may be embodied in the user device, or itcould be implemented at a different device which controls the display ofthe user device remotely.

If the same drag gesture is performed again after the request has beenaccepted so that the video is no longer obscured, an action relating tothe visual content may be triggered in response or selectable option isdisplayed in response, which is selectable to trigger an action relatingto the visual content. That is, a different action may be mapped to thatgesture, once the video is no longer obscured.

A fourth aspect of the invention is directed to a computer-implementedmethod of capturing image data at a user device, the method comprisingimplementing, by at least one processor of the user device, thefollowing steps: activating an image capture device of the user device;receiving at the processor, from the active image capture device, astream of image data captured by the image capture device; controlling adisplay of the user device to render the captured stream of image dataas a video image on the display, whereby the video image shows a currentfield of view of the image capture device, wherein the video image ismoveable using a user input device of the user device; and in responseto a user using the user input device to move the video image showingthe current field of view, from an initial position on the display to anew position on the display, triggering at least one image capturefunction at the user device.

This also provides an intuitive user interface mechanism, whereby theuser can manipulate the locally-captured video image itself to triggerthe image capture function at the user device.

The at least one triggered image capture function may comprise anactivation function which activates a second image capture device of theuser device when triggered in response to the user moving the videoimage from the initial position to the new position. The image capturedevice may be deactivated in response to the user moving the video imagefrom the initial position to the new position. That is, moving the videoimage may switch from the image capture device to the second imagecapture device.

The at least one processor may replace the video image with a videoimage derived from a stream of image data captured by the second imagecapture device once active.

The at least one processor may transmit, from the user device via anetwork to a remote device, as an outgoing data stream, a version of theimage data captured by the image capture device, and the at least oneprocessor replaces the image data in the outgoing data stream with imagedata captured by the second image capture device once active.

An incoming stream of image data may be received at the user device fromthe remote device via the network and rendered on the display as anincoming video image simultaneously with the moveable video image.

One of the image capture devices may be a front-facing image capturedevice, and the other may be a rear-facing image capture device.

The at least one image capture function comprises an illuminationfunction which activates at least one illumination device of the userdevice when triggered to illuminate the field of view of the imagecapture device.

The at least one image capture function may be triggered in response tothe video image being moved at least a predetermined distance.

A fifth aspect of the invention is directed to a computer-implementedmethod of rendering a user interface, the method comprising thefollowing steps: at a user interface controller, receiving visualcontent to be displayed on a display of a user device, wherein the userinterface controller controls the display to render a user interfacehaving a moveable overlay that obscures the visual content; andtransmitting, from the user device to a remote device, a request toremove the overlay, wherein the request is transmitted in response to adrag gesture detected at the user device; wherein as the drag gesture isperformed, the user interface controller responds by controlling thedisplay so as to move the overlay in a direction associated with thedrag gesture such that a limited area of the visual content is no longerobscured by the overlay, and is thus visible on the display unobscuredbefore the request has been accepted, wherein if the request issubsequently accepted at the remote device, the overlay is removed bythe user interface controller in response, thereby rendering the visualcontent fully visible on the display.

A sixth aspect of the invention is directed to a computer-implementedmethod of rendering a user interface, the method comprising thefollowing steps: at a user interface controller, receiving visualcontent to be displayed on a display of a user device, wherein the userinterface controller controls the display to render a user interfacehaving an overlay that obscures the visual content; and transmitting,from the user device to a remote device, a request to remove theoverlay, wherein the request is transmitted in response to a draggesture detected at the user device; wherein as the drag gesture isperformed, the user interface controller responds by controlling thedisplay so as to reduce an opacity of the overlay from an initialnon-zero value to a new non-zero value, wherein if the request issubsequently accepted at the remote device, the overlay is removed bythe user interface controller in response, thereby rendering the visualcontent fully visible on the display.

A seventh aspect of the invention is directed to a computer-implementedmethod of rendering a user interface, the method comprising thefollowing steps: at a user interface controller, receiving visualcontent to be displayed on a display of a user device, wherein the userinterface controller generates obfuscation data for obscuring the visualcontent and controls the display to render a user interface on which thevisual content is obscured according to the obfuscation data; andtransmitting, from the user device to a remote device, a request to stopobscuring the visual content, wherein the request is transmitted inresponse to a drag gesture detected at the user device; wherein if therequest is subsequently accepted at the remote device, in response theuser interface controller controls the display to stop obscuring thevisual content, thereby rendering it fully visible on the display.

An eighth aspect of the invention is directed to a computer programproduct comprising executable instructions stored on a computer-readablestorage medium, which are configured, when executed, to carry out themethod of any of the first to seventh aspects or any embodiment thereof.

A ninth aspect of the invention is directed to a computer systemcomprising: at least one processor; and electronic storage coupled tothe at least one processor configured to hold executable instructions,which are configured, when executed on the at least one processor, tocarry out the method of any of the first to seventh aspects or anyembodiment thereof.

The computer system may be a distributed computer system, or it can belocalized, e.g. embodied in a user device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show howembodiments of the same may be carried into effect, reference is made byway of example only to the following figures in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an online-dating system;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a user device;

FIG. 3A shows a functional block diagram for a media exchange system ina first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3B shows a functional block diagram for a media exchange system ina second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart for a method of effecting a communication eventbetween two users via a network;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic illustration of how users of a dating app maybe paired together (matched) by a pairing algorithm; and

FIG. 6 shows an example messaging exchange for the method of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6A shows another example messaging exchange for the method of FIG.4;

FIG. 7 shows an example of an initial user interface (UI) configurationfor an application (app);

FIGS. 8A-8J show examples of the app UI at different points duringregistration;

FIGS. 9A-9G show examples of the app UI at different points in use,before and during a communication event with another user;

FIGS. 10A-10B show how a user's matches may be presented via the UI;

FIGS. 11A-11M illustrate various gestures which the app responds to andthe app's responses to those gestures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The described embodiments of the present invention provide a dating appwith real-time communication functions, typically as a precursor toreal-life meet-ups should the users feel that way inclined.

Users can engage in two-way live video conversations with random users,where the live video is masked and obscured with full audio being heardat all times where users are connected to each other. A user pulls downto request sharing of (unobscured) video content with the other user andthe user receiving the request has to agree or not, within a time limit,by swiping down then left or right accordingly. That is, people meetother people randomly on the fly, but have their identity protecteduntil a mutual bond of trust has been formed vocally. Either or both ofthe users may receive “points” for their actions, particularly if therequest is accepted, to boost their respective “engagement scores” (seebelow).

Users of the dating application are paired together (“matched”), by apairing algorithm, and once matched either of those users can initiate areal-time communication event with the other in accordance with theinvention. That is, the real-time communication functions of the datingapp are “unlocked” only once users have been matched in that a user canonly initiate such a communication event, via the dating app, withanother user he/she has been matched with.

The pairing algorithm can for example be executed at a back-end computersystem, and operates as a pairing system to pair users based on one ormore pairing criteria, such as location, age, gender, sexualorientation, common interests, user-expressed dating preferences or anycombination thereof. In the described embodiments, the pairing algorithmis randomized, in the sense that user pairings are driven at least inpart by random or pseudorandom inputs to the pairing algorithm.Accordingly, in this context, it is any pairing criteria together withthe randomized inputs that determine which users are able to communicatewith each other via the dating app. User pairings can be determinedentirely autonomously by the pairing algorithm, or the pairing algorithmmay autonomously determine potential pairings (that is, candidatematches) which the users are then free to accept or reject (for example,the algorithm may autonomously suggest a pairing of users, but it isonly when both users accept this suggested pairing that they areactually paired and thus able to engage in real-time communications viathe dating app).

Dating apps do exist today that unlock communication functions only whenusers are paired, however this tends to be limited to text-basedmessaging. For example, the Tinder app autonomously suggests potentialmatches to users, but it is only when both users “like” each other thatthey are actually matched, and thus able to communicate with each othervia text. Real-time audio/videos streaming is not normally used as abasis for communication between matched users within dating apps.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a data exchange system 100,which is an online-dating system, in which a plurality of user devices102 a-102 e are shown connected to a network 104. The network 104 is apacket based computer network such as the Internet. Also shown connectedto the network 104 are: a back-end system 106 comprising at least onecomputing device, such as a server; and a database 108, which can beimplemented in any suitable manner (localized or distributed). Each ofthe user devices 102 a-102 e is a user-operated computingdevice—operated by users 103 a-103 e respectively—such as a smartphone,tablet, smartwatch or other smart device, laptop or desktop computeretc. Preferably at least some of the user devices are mobile devices.Although only five user devices are shown in FIG. 1, this is purelyexemplary and the data exchange system 100 may have any number ofconnected user devices.

The users 102 a-e, who are users of the dating app, can engage in areal-time conversation with each other via the network 104(communication event) once they have been matched together by thepairing algorithm, which is labelled 504 in the figures and is shownexecuted at the back-end system 106 in FIG. 1. When the conversation isfirst initiated, audio data can be freely exchanged between those usersvia the network 104, as respective audio streams, so they can hear eachother speak. However, the exchange of video data between the users issuppressed—either by obscuring the video, or blocking italtogether—until both users mutually agree to lift this restrictionwithin the conversation, at which point video stops being suppressed forboth users. In other words, either video is suppressed in bothdirections for both of the users (when at least one of the users has notagreed to lift this restriction), or it is suppressed in neitherdirection for neither of the users (once both have agreed to lift thisrestriction).

In this context, there therefore are two levels of “unlocking”, inthat 1) two users must be matched with each other before real-timecommunication via the dating app is unlocked for that pair of users, and2) both of those users must then subsequently agree to unlock (full)real-time video-based communication if and when they are both ready.

Real-time in this context means there is only a short delay between oneuser speaking and the other user hearing/seeing that user speak, forexample about two seconds or less.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a user device 102, such as a mobiledevice. As will be appreciated, FIG. 2 is highly schematic and alldescription herein pertaining to user device 102 applies equally to eachof the user devices 102 a-e shown in FIG. 1 even if they differ in thespecifics of their configurations.

The user device 102 is shown to comprise at least one processor 202,such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or set of CPUs/CPU cores, forexample in a multi-core processor. Shown connected to the processor 202are the following devices: electronic storage 204 comprising one or moreelectronic storage devices, such as magnetic storage, solid-statestorage, optical storage or any combination thereof; a display 206; anetwork interface 208, via which the user device can connect to thenetwork 104; at least one audio capture device 210 for capturing auser's speech, such as a microphone or microphone array; at least oneaudio output device 212 for outputting (playing-out) received audio,such as a loudspeaker or set of loudspeakers, headset etc.; at least oneimage capture device 214 (camera); and at least one location sensingdevice 216 (location sensor). The aforementioned devices can beintegrated in the user device, peripheral components (wired and/orwireless), or a mixture of both.

In the described examples, the display 206 comprises a touchscreen andthus functions as both an input and an output device of the user device102. It is noted, however, that all description herein relating to thetouchscreen applied equally to other forms of input device whereapplicable.

Shown stored in the memory 205 is a version of the dating app 205 forexecution on the processor 202. In order to execute the dating app 205,the processor 202 fetches instructions of the dating app 205 and carriesout operations according to those instructions to implement thefunctionality of the dating app 205.

Returning briefly to FIG. 1, the user devices 102 a-e are shownexecuting respective instances of the dating app 205, denoted 205 a-erespectively. Instances of the dating app 205 executed on differentdevices can communicate with each other via the network 104 in order tocarry out the functions described herein, and in particular to provide atwo-way exchange of audio and video data streams via the network 104.

Preferably the user device 102 has at least a front-facing camera,located so that it can capture images of the user's face. This allowsface-to-face conversations to be conducted with other users via thenetwork 104. The user device may also have a rear-facing camera, and theuser may be able to switch between the two during the conversation.

FIG. 3A shows a functional block diagram for a media exchange system 300a according to a first embodiment of the invention. Various functionalcomponents of the media exchange system 300 a are shown, namely an audioencoder 302 having an input connected to the audio capture device 210,an audio decoder 304 having an output connected to the audio outputdevice 212, a video encoder 306 having an input connected to the imagecapture device 214 for receiving video data to be encoded, a videodecoder 308, a user interface (UI) rendering component 310, and acontrol messaging component 312.

The media exchange system 300 a is implemented at each of the userdevices 102 a-102 e to allow a two way exchange of audio and video datastreams between pairs of those devices. Video data means image dataembodying a sequence of images to be displayed in quick succession tocreate the impression of motion.

Although not shown in FIG. 3A, the audio encoder 302 and decoder 304 areconnected to the audio capture device 210 and audio output device 212respectively via an analogue to digital converter (ADC) and digital toanalogue converter (DAC) respectively. The audio encoder 302 receives astream of captured audio data 322 (audio stream) to be encoded (that is,an audio signal captured by the audio capture device 210 and convertedto digital form by the DAC) and encodes (compresses) it. The encodedaudio stream 322 is transmitted via the network 104 to another userdevice in real-time. The audio decoder 324 receives an incoming streamof real-time audio data 324 via the network 104 from the other userdevice. This is received in an encoded (compressed) form, and the audiodecoder 304 decodes it and supplies it to the audio output device 212(via the DAC) so that it is outputted to the user.

The video encoder 306 receives a stream of video data 322 (video stream)captured by the image capture device 214 and encodes (compresses) it.The encoded video stream 322 is transmitted via the network 104 to theother user device in real-time. The video decoder 308 receives anincoming stream of real-time video data 328 via the network 104 from theother user device. This is received in an encoded (compressed) form, andthe video decoder 308 decodes it for displaying on the display 206.

Encoding in this context means compression, whereby the bit rate of theaudio/video stream is reduced for transmission. This can be losslesscompression, whereby no information is lost, lossy compression, wherebyinformation is selectively discarded, or a combination of both. Decodingmeans decompression, which is essentially the reverse of this process torecover the original audible or visual content of stream in question, orat least an approximation of the original stream content where lossycompression has been used. Audio/video encoding and decoding are wellknown in the art so this will not be described in any more detail.

Although not shown in FIG. 3A, in order to transmit the outgoing audioand video streams 322, 326 over the packet based-network 104, they arepacketized for transmission. Similarly, the incoming streams 324, 328are received as packets and re-assembled for decoding. Again, this iswell known in the art so is not described in any more detail.

The UI rendering component 310 has an output connected to the display206 for rendering a UI on the display 206, and the UI renderingcomponent 310 and control messaging component 312 also have inputsconnected to the touchscreen of the display 206 for receiving userinputs from the user of the user device 102. The UI rendering component310 also has a first video input connected to an output of the videodecoder 308 for receiving decoded video data and a second video inputconnected to the image capture device 214 for receiving locally capturedvideo data, so that both of those video data can be rendered as part ofthe UI thereby displaying them to the user of the user device 102.

The control messaging component 312 also has an output connected to acontrol input of the UI rendering component 310 for controlling theoperation of the UI rendering component 310, and in particular to avideo suppression component 311 of the UI rendering component 310 forcontrolling the operation of the video suppression component 311.

In this manner, when two user devices are communicating, the imagecapture device 214 and video encoder 306 at each of those devicescooperate with the video decoder 306, UI rendering component 310 anddisplay 206 at the other device to provide a video exchange function forexchanging video data between the users via the network 104. That is,for exchanging visual information between those users in real-time.

The video suppression component 311 selectively suppresses the videoexchange function provided by the cooperating media exchange systems atthe communicating user devices. In the first embodiment of FIG. 3A, itdoes so by selectively obscuring the visual content of the incomingvideo stream 328 before it is displayed.

FIG. 3B shows a functional block diagram for a variant of the mediaexchange system, denoted 300 b, according to a second embodiment of theinvention. The second media exchange system is the same as that of thefirst embodiment, apart from the differences set out below. Likereference numerals are used to denote like components, and alldescription pertaining to the system 300 a of FIG. 3A applies equally tothe system 300 b of FIG. 3B.

In the media exchange system 300 b of FIG. 3B, instead of obscuring theincoming video stream 328, the video processing module 311 selectivelyobscures the visual content of outgoing video stream 326 beforetransmission.

The media exchange systems 300 a, 300 b represent functionality that isimplemented by the dating app 205 when executed on the processor 202 ofthe user device 102, in the first and second embodiments respectively,where each of the aforementioned functional components of those systemsrepresents a different part of this functionality.

Each of the user devices 102 a-e is thus configured to implement such amedia exchange system 300 a/300 b, by way of the dating app instance 205a-e executed on that device.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart for a method effecting a real-timeconversations between users of the dating app.

In order to use the dating app, users install the app on their userdevices 102 a-e (unless it is installed already) and also register withthe back-end system 106 (S2). During the registration process, at leastone identifier associated with a registering user is stored in thedatabase 108 to enable the registering user to be identified within thesystem 100 as a user of the dating app. The identifier can for examplebe a user identifier, such as a username or handle created specificallyfor the dating app or a pre-existing user identifier, such as an emailaddress or other user identifier for some pre-existing user account,such as a social media account or multi-purpose account used to access arange of services. Alternatively, the identifier can be a networkaddress associated with the user, such as a network address (e.g. IPaddress) of his user device that allows the user device to be contactedvia the network 104. That is, a device identifier can act as anidentifier of its user. Registration could for example involve the usercreating a profile for the dating app, where the user also providesinformation about him/herself that is stored along with the associatedidentifier(s) as part of the profile in the database 108. The identifieror identifiers held in the database 108 for a particular user constitutean identity of that user within the online-dating system 100, and whichis used by the user to access the functions of the dating app.

FIG. 7 shows one example of an initial configuration of the UI thatmight be presented when a user first opens the app. Selectable optionsto either sign-up, i.e. instigate the registration process (702), or tolog-in if the user is already registered (704) are displayed, along witha basic explanation of the app's features. FIGS. 8A-K show the UI atvarious stages during an example registration process, instigated by theselection of option 702. By registering, the user creates an accountwithin the online-dating system 100, which is embodied in the database108. In some implementations, different tiers of account (such as basicand premium) may be provided. In FIG. 8A, the user provides ageinformation, by indicating an age bracket into which they fall viaselection of one of a plurality of selectable options 802. In thisexample, the age brackets are defined somewhat qualitatively (“EarlyTeen”, “Late Teen”, “Early 20s” etc.), and the user does not have toprovide an exact age. In FIG. 8B, the user indicates his or her gender,by selecting one of two selectable options 804 (male or female), howevernon-binary gender options could also be provided. FIGS. 8C-D illustrateone example of how a user can input a desired username, via a displayedtext entry field 806. FIGS. 8E-8F show a slight variation, in which anindicator 808 is displayed as the user enters the text of his/herpreferred username, to indicate whether or not the text inputted so faris available as a username. FIGS. 8G-I show how a user may enter adesired password, via input text field 810. An indicator 812 isdisplayed and updated to indicate a determined strength of the textinputted so far as a password. In some implementations, the user may berequired to choose a password of sufficient strength before proceeding.In FIG. 8J, the user is presented with any terms and conditions forusing the dating app service, which s/he must accept via option 814before proceeding. The UI can switch between the configurations of FIGS.8A-J in any suitable order as the user goes through the registrationprocess. Of course, FIGS. 8A-JJ illustrate just one example of the typeof information that might be collected during registration, and oneexample of how it might be collected via the dating app UI, andalternatives will be apparent.

Once users have registered in this manner, the pairing algorithm 504executed at the back-end system 106 pairs registered users together, bycreating associations between their identifiers in the database 108(S4). Users can be paired together based on various criteria, such aslocation, gender, age, sexual orientation, self-declared interestsand/or dating preferences, or other personal information etc. or anycombination thereof. Location can for example be determined using thelocation sensor 216, for example based on satellite positioning (e.g.using GPS or other GNSS system), cellular triangulation etc., from theuser device's IP address, or using any other form of positioningtechnique. Alternatively, it can be a self-declared location set by theuser (possibly subject to verification).

In the described example, the pairing algorithm 504 is randomized inthat users are paired based on random or pseudorandom inputs to thepairing algorithm 504. Although randomized, the pairing need not be“completely” random (in the sense that all users of the dating app neednot have an equal chance of being paired)—certain pairings can beexcluded based, for example, on the aforementioned pairing criteria, orthe algorithm can be biased towards certain pairings based on thosecriteria etc.

In the following examples, it is assumed that users 103 a and 103 b inFIG. 1—“Alice” and “Bob” respectively—have been paired with each otherin this manner.

Once two users have been paired, each of those users is provided withdetails of the other user. In particular, Bob's identity as embodied inthe database 108 is rendered available to Alice's user device 102 a, andAlice's identity as embodied in the database 108 is rendered availableto Bob's user device 102 b.

This is illustrated in the example of FIG. 5, which shows how, onceAlice and Bob have been paired in the database 108, by the pairingalgorithm 504, in response, Alice's identity 502 a—comprising herusername and device address in this example—is rendered available toBob's device 104 b, and likewise Bob's identity 502 b—comprising hisusername and device address—is rendered available to Alice's device 104a.

Returning to FIG. 4, once Alice and Bob have been paired, they caninstigate a real-time audiovisual (AV) conversation via their respectiveinstances of the dating app 205 a, 205 b (S6). This is achieved by eachof their devices 102 a, 102 b subscribing to the audio and video streamscaptured at the other device (the outgoing streams 322, 326 from theperspective of the device at which they are captured, and the incomingstreams 324, 328 from the perspective of the device at which they arereceived). Either user can initiate the conversation as his/her device,via the UI rendered by the UI rendering component 310 of that device.

By way of example, FIG. 6 shows an example messaging flow for theconversation between Alice and Bob. The messages of FIG. 6 are controlmessages, transmitted and received by the control messaging components312 at Alice and Bob's devices 102 a, 102 b.

In this example, Bob initiates the conversation by way of a user input602 at his device 102 a, which causes an invitation 604 to betransmitted to Alice's device 102 b. Upon receiving the invitation 604,Alice can accept the invitation by way of a user input 606 at her device102 b, which causes an acceptance message 608 to be transmitted to Bob.With this message exchange complete, both devices 102 a, 102 b can nowsubscribe to each other's audio and video streams. As will beappreciated, this is just one example for the purposes of illustration,and more complex message exchanges can be performed to allow one of theusers to initiate the conversation.

When the conversation has been initiated, audio streams are exchangedbetween Alice and Bob's devices 102 a, 102 b in both directionsunhindered. Thus the users can speak to each other and hear what theother is saying similar to a conventional telephone call, but which isconducted via the dating app 205 itself.

In the present example, video streams are also exchanged between theirdevices 102 a, 102 b in both directions as soon as the conversation hasbeen initiated. However, the video is suppressed in the sense that thevisual content of both of the video streams are obscured by therespective video suppression components 311 at the user devices 102 a,102 b. Where the video streams are capturing images of Alice and Bob'sfaces, the obfuscation is sufficient to conceal the user's faces. Forexample, it may be such that, whilst an outline of the faces isdiscernible (enough that each user can see he/she is talking to anotherperson, and see some movement of the head), more detailed structure ofthe face is not, making it difficult or even impossible for the user'sto identify each other visually.

Obscuring the video in this manner has the benefit of providing securityfor the users on the one hand, by ensuring their faces are concealedwhen in frame (which is important because, at this point, they areessentially strangers to each other), whilst on the other hand stillproviding a more engaging experience than a conversation conducted usingaudio alone.

For example, the video can be obscured by rendering apartially-transparent overlay on top of the incoming video stream, whichis opaque enough to conceal the other user's face but transparent enoughto allow the outline of the head to be discerned. Levels of opacity canbe set as percentage alpha values (say at least 90%) or as floatingpoint numbers between (0.0-1.0). This is just one example, and otherforms of video obfuscation are equally viable. For example, anotherviable way of obscuring the video content is by applying a “filter” tothe video stream to conceal the user's face. This could for example be amask or other character illustration that tracks facial movements in thevideo stream to obscure the user's identity, including but not limitedto: masquerades, cartoon characters, country flag silhouettes, nationaltreasure personalities, celebrities or sponsored advertising branding.In some implementations, a user may be able to select their own filterto be applied to their video initially. As will be appreciated, thereare various ways of processing video to obscure a user's identity byconcealing his/her face, without disguising it altogether. The level ofdistortion that needs to be introduced to achieve this can varydepending on the type of processing, but the extent of the processingthat is needed to keep the users' identities safe from their perspectivewill be apparent to the skilled person in any given context.

In the system of FIG. 3A, at each of Alice and Bob's devices 102 a, 102b, the incoming video stream 328 from the other device is processed bythe video suppression component 311 to obscure its visual content, onceit has been received and decoded. That is, Alice's stream is obfuscatedat Bob's device after transmission, by the video suppression component311 at Bob's device, and vice versa. This processing is performed aspart of the process of rendering the UI at that device, hence the videosuppression component 311 is shown as a component of the UI renderingcomponent 310 in FIG. 3A.

In the system of FIG. 3B, at each of the devices 102 a, 102 b, theoutgoing video stream 326 is processed by the video suppressioncomponent 311 before encoding and transmission instead. That is, Alice'sstream is obfuscated before transmission at Alice's device by the videosuppression component 311 at that device, and Bob's stream is obfuscatedbefore transmission at Bob's device by the video suppression component311 at that device.

Note also that, in other implementations, it may be that the obfuscationis not performed at either device. For example, the video suppressioncomponents for each of the streams could be implemented at anintermediate relay node, such as a server, via which the streams arerelayed.

Returning to FIG. 4, either one of Alice and Bob can initiate a request612 to the other user to stop obscure the message (step S8, FIG. 4). Inthe example of FIG. 6, it happens to be Bob who initiates the request612 to Alice's device, by way of a user input 610 at his device.However, it is equally viable for Alice to initiate the request to Bob'sdevice instead. The user input 610 is provided during the communicationevent whilst the audio streams are being transmitted, received andoutputted and the video streams are being transmitted, received anddisplayed in obscured form.

Therefore initiating the request 612 does not cause terminate videosuppression for either user: once the request 612 has been sent, thesystem continues to suppress both Alice and Bob's video, and their facestherefore remain concealed. Rather, the system 100 will only stopsuppressing the videos if both Alice and Bob agree to it.

Upon receiving the request 612, Alice's device 102 b outputs anotification 614 of the request to Alice (step S10, FIG. 4) and Alicehas the option of either accepting or refusing the request (S12).

If Alice accepts the request 612, in response, the video suppressioncomponents 311 at both user devices 102 a, 102 b stop obscuring both ofthe video streams (S14).

In the example of FIG. 6, Alice accepts the request 612 by way of a userinput 616 at her device 102 b, which causes an acceptance message 618 tobe transmitted to Bob's device. At this point, both devices 102 a, 102 bknow that Alice has accepted Bob's request. Again, this is just oneexample, and more complex message exchanges can be performed to agree toend video suppression, depending on the implementation. In any event,the respective video suppression components associated with each of theuser devices 102 a, 102 b stop suppressing video for both of thosedevices 102 a, 102 b automatically in response to the same user input616 at Alice's device 102 a (as conveyed to Bob's device via message618).

If Alice does not accept the request 612, but rejects or ignores itinstead, the video suppression components continue obscuring both of thevideo streams (S16). That is, the video suppression components at bothof the devices continue to suppress video for both users.

Preferably, each of the users is only permitted to send a limited numberof such requests, up to a request threshold, for example a maximum ofthree requests to stop obscuring the video. Accordingly, if Bob attemptsto send another such request, his control messaging component 312determines whether he has reached the request threshold (S18). If not, afurther request is instigated to Alice (S20); if so, no further requestis sent because Bob is not permitted to send any more requests to Alice,at least at the current point in time (S22). Bob may be informed of thisvia the UI of his app. This may be an absolute limit, whereby Bob isnever allowed to send another request to Alice, or it may be timelimited, whereby earlier requests are discounted for the purposes ofimposing this limit once an appropriate amount of time has elapsed, forexample.

Each request may also have a limited time interval in which it can beaccepted, after which it expires. Once Bob's request has expired, Alicecan no longer accept it. However, she is free to send her own request toBob, which he can accept if he chooses.

Either user can terminate a real-time conversation at any time.Moreover, after users have been paired, either user is free to “block”the other user should they wish to do so. Once either user blocks theother user, it is no longer possible for either of those users toinitiate a conversation with the other via the dating app.

FIG. 6A shows an alternative messaging exchange, in which theconversation between Alice and Bob is initiated in a different manner.In this example, the pairing algorithm 504 initiates the real-timeconversation between Alice and Bob automatically, when they are firstpaired.

In this example, initially, Alice and Bob both enter a virtual “waitingarea”, by way of user inputs 622, 626 to their respective devices 102 a,102 b. These inputs indicate that each user is currently ready to engagein a conversation, once the system has found them a match. The app canbe configured such that users enter the waiting area as soon as they login to the app, or this might be an active choice after they have loggedin. When Alice and Bob enter the waiting area, the backend system 106 isinformed by way of messages 624, 628 from Alice and Bob's devices 102 a,102 b respectively. The back end system 106 pairs together users in thevirtual waiting area and, in response to Alice and Bob being paired bythe pairing algorithm 504 (corresponding to S4 in FIG. 4), the back-endsystem 106 automatically transmits communication event instigationmessages 630 a, 630 b to Alice and Bob's devices 102 a, 102 brespectively, thereby instigating the communication event between Aliceand Bob automatically, with video suppressed initially. That is, theexchange of audio and video streams between Alice and Bob's devices 102a, 102 b is instigated automatically, in response to Alice and Bob beingpaired at step S4. Hereafter, the communication event proceeds in thesame way as described above, and all description in relation to FIG. 6applies equally to FIG. 6A in this respect; either one of Alice or Bobcan request to stop suppressing video during the communication event,and video suppression terminates if and when both agree.

FIGS. 9A-C show example configurations of the dating App UI displayed toa user who in the waiting area—Bob's UI at this device 102 b in thisexample. Initially, Bob is informed that they system is looking foranother suitable user to pair him with (902, FIG. 9A). If the systemcannot find another such user straight away (far-end user), Bob isinformed of this via the UI (904, FIG. 9B) and he is provided with anoption of activating a notification function via the UI to notify himwhen he is matched with another user. If Bob activates this function,the UI is updated to reflect this (906, FIG. 9C), and his device 102 bwill notify him if and when he is paired. During this time, a self-videoimage 908 is displayed. That is, Bob's own locally captured video datais displayed to him in a region of the UI, so that he can see what willbe transmitted to the other user once paired (although this will ofcourse be obscured at the far end device initially).

Once Bob is paired with Alice, in this example a conversation betweenAlice and Bob is instigated automatically in response as per FIG. 6A. Atthis point, audio and video data beings flowing in both directionsbetween Alice and Bob, however, at each user's device, the video fromthe other user is obscured. An example of this is illustrated in FIG.9D, in which Alice's video 910 (i.e. the far-end video form Bob'sperspective) is obscured by a highly opaque but still slightlytransparent overlay 914, which covers all or substantially all of thefar-end video 910 such that the far-end video 910 is barely discernibleto the near-end user. It is possible to make out the outline of Alice'shead and hair, but her identity is obscured. A fully opaque graphic 912is also displayed at or near the centre of Alice's video, to furtherobscure the region where her face is likely to be. Bob's self-video 908is still displayed via his UI unobscured, so that he can clearly seewhat is being transmitted to Alice's device.

FIG. 9E shows one example of how the UI can change as Bob initiates therequest 612 for full, unobscured video. In this example, the user input610 that initiates the request 612 is a “drag and release” gesture onthe touchscreen of Bob's user device 102 b, whereby Bob brings a finger(e.g. thumb) into contact with the touchscreen at an initial point onthe touchscreen, drags it along the touchscreen to another pointsufficiently far away from the initial point, and then releases it. Inthis example, the gesture is performed by dragging vertically downwards,but in other implementations it could be in any desired direction ordirections.

As can be seen, as Bob performs the gesture the overlay 914 moves tomatch the direction of the gesture, so as to reveal a small area 916 ofthe far-end video 910 without obfuscation (“preview area”). The size ofthis preview area 916 increases, up to a maximum size, as Bob dragsfurther along the touchscreen. The maximum size of the preview area 916is set such that, overall, the video remains obscured (such that the farend-user's face remains concealed) even when this maximum size isreached, and the size of the preview area 916 cannot be increased beyondthis maximum size. In the example of FIG. 9E, the maximum extent of thepreview area in the direction in which its size increases (height inthis example) is around 10-20% of the overall extent of the far-endvideo in that direction (the height of the video in this example). Thatis, the overlay moves by at most 10-20% of the extent of Alice's videoin the direction of movement.

This has the benefit of conveying, to Bob, information about the gesturehe is performing via intuitive visual feedback: as he drags, a smallamount of video is de-obfuscated, thereby conveying to Bob that thegesture he is making relates to the de-obfuscation of the video. Thatis, Bob can in effect see what it is he is requesting from Alice, namelyremoval of the overlay 914, which he himself is only able to remove to avery limited extent (i.e. only up to the maximum size of the previewarea 916).

As Bob's thumb/finger is released, the request 912 is sent in responseand the overlay 914 returns to its initial position so that the far-endvideo 910 is fully obscured again. A notification 918 is displayed toBob via his UI to confirm that the request 612 has been sent.

This is one example of how a level of obfuscation applied to Alice'svideo can be reduced slightly as Bob performs the gesture, before therequest to remove obfuscation altogether has been accepted. Otherexamples include reducing the opacity of the overlay (to a lower butstill non-zero value, such that the video is still obscured until therequest is granted), or where facial filters are used for obfuscation,by adapting at least one facial distortion parameter of the filter toreduce an amount of facial distortion created by the filter. These havethe same benefits in terms of providing intuitive visual feedback.

The level of obfuscation L, where L may for example be the height of thepreview area 918 or the opacity of the overlay, change as a function ofthe distance D the user has dragged along the screen. This may not be alinear function, such that t . For example, as the distance increases,the “rate” of obfuscation—that is, dL/dD (the differential of theobfuscation level L with respect to the distance D)—may decrease withthe distance D. That is, such that with each incremental increase in thedistance D, the obfuscation level decreases by a smaller amount as thedistance D increases overall. This gives a sense of greater “tension” asthe user drags further.

The device may also provide haptic feedback as the user performs thegesture, for example using an internal vibration mechanism of the userdevice. This could for example be a case of actuating the vibrationmechanism at predetermined points as the gesture is performed (e.g. atpredetermined percentages of the maximum distance the overlay can bemoved etc.), or a level of vibration could be increased as the gestureis performed. More generally, the level of vibration could depend on,say, a duration, speed or distance relating to the performance of thegesture, or any combination thereof.

FIG. 9F shows the UI of Alice's device 102 a, and in particular shows anexample of how the notification 614 is outputted at the far end device.In this example, the notification is a dynamic notification, whichchanges gradually to show how long the Alice has left to accept thenotification by “counting down” clockwise, as denoted by arrow 616 inFIG. 9F. At this point, Bob's video 618 is still displayed at Alice'sdevice in an obscured form, by an equivalent overlay 620 of her UI.

As shown in the final picture of FIG. 9E, Bob's notification 616 updatesto match Alice's notification 616, so that Bob also knows how long Alicehas to accept the request. That is, Bob's notification 616 also countsdown the time remaining.

As shown in FIG. 9G, if Alice accepts the request 612 before it expires,the overlay 620 is removed from her UI in response and Alice cantherefore see Bob's video 618 unobscured. The overlay 914 of Bob's UI isalso removed from Alice's video 910 in response to Alice's acceptance,therefore Bob can also see Alice's video unobscured. This is not shownin the Figures, however all description pertaining to Alice's overlay620 on Bob's video 618 applies equally to Bob's overlay 914 on Alice'svideo 910.

At this point, Alice and Bob can now engage in full face-to-faceconversation, without concealment.

The user input 616 made by Alice to accept the request 612 may also be agesture. This could for example be a simple swipe right (say) to reject,and a swipe left to accept. As another example, in order to respond tothe gesture, Alice may first drag down on the touchscreen and, havingdragged down, then swipe right to reject or left to accept (tracing areverse “L” shape). This can be an unbroken gesture, where Alice has tomaintain contact with the touchscreen throughout (i.e. tracing an “L”shape or a reverse “L” shape on the touchscreen). Alternatively, afterdragging down, she may be able to lift her finger off the touchscreenand return to it subsequently to complete the gesture (effectivelyswiping down first, and then swiping left or right).

Either user can terminate the conversation at any time, by selecting adisplayed termination option (labelled 915 for Alice and 917 for Bob;note Bob's option is not visible in all of the Figures, but maynevertheless be displayed throughout).

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate how a user can obtain a list 1002 ofhis/her matches via the dating app UI at his/her user device. That is, aset of user identities for users s/he has been paired with. This may beall users s/he has been paired with, or it may only be users for whomthe restrictions on video have been lifted by mutual agreement. For eachof the users in the list 1002, a selectable option 1004 may be providedto “delete” (i.e. block) that user. This can be a selectable option thatis always displayed (as in FIG. 10A), or one that is revealed by way ofa swipe gesture (FIG. 10B).

Engagement Scores:

To encourage repeat traffic, reward users for staying engaged with theapp, and provide user quality validation to other users, a points rewardsystem is implemented within the on-line dating system.

Over time users come to expect honesty and integrity in the other usersthey are meeting—something that is somewhat lacking in existing datingapps that are available today (e.g. in existing dating app's, usersprofile images are often out of date or are not even images of theactual user in question. This is one of the problems with uploadedimages, as opposed to video images that are taken by a camera in realtime).

Based on engagement statistics features are unlocked via a pointsalgorithm (engagement algorithm), which awards points to users based onthe volume of agreed chats and the number of agreed removals ofobfuscation. The engagement algorithm can for example be executed at theback-end 106 as shown in FIG. 1, in which the engagement algorithm islabelled 514.

The total number of points awarded to a user constitutes an “engagementscore” for the user in question, which can be stored in the database 108as part of that user's profile and updated as the user engages with theapp.

As users gain points, features of the online-dating system/app are“unlocked” as they reach certain engagement thresholds. That is, after acertain amount of generated points users may receive an “achievement”.

By way of example, when a user's engagement score reaches a firstengagement threshold, an avatar camera creation tool may be unlocked inresponse, to render use of that tool available to the user. The toolcannot be used until this threshold is met. The tools allows the user tocreate an avatar using the same camera on the device as the video chatmechanism.

These upgraded users now enter “discovery mode”, by unlocking adiscovery function of the app, with avatars visible to other users whereappropriate and could be indexable via a search mechanism when otherengagement achievements are met. That is, the avatar is visible to otherusers of the system who have also reached the first engagementthreshold, and can for example be stored in the database 108 as part ofthe user's profile/account.

Users who have reached discovery mode may be able to instigatecommunication events with other users who have also reached thediscovery mode, without having to be matched by the pairing algorithm504 first. For example, discoverable users may be listed on a “leaderboard” style interface, ordered according to their scores, wherein theleader board interface is available to other discoverable users.Discoverable users can instigate communication events with otherdiscoverable users on the leader board, without having to be matchedfirst.

Users who have entered the discovery mode can be marked as discoverablein the database 108, for example by setting a discovery flag that ispart of their profile in the database 108.

Expanding on these principles, points are awarded to users of the datingapp as a “reward” for engaging with the app, and in particular as areward for engaging with other users of the app. For example, points maybe awarded to users in dependence on their willingness to remove videoobfuscation during conversations with other users. By way of example,figures 10A and 10B indicate, for each of the listed users, the totalnumber of points awarded to that user, labelled 1006 for the final userin the list by way of example.

For example, the engagement score can be incremented when a user acceptsa request 612 to de-obfuscate video. The amount by which it isincremented may depend on how quickly the user accepts the request 612,whereby the user can achieve a greater increment by accepting therequest in a shorter amount of time. This can for example be determinedas a proportion of the time that is remaining to accept the request, orsome other function of the remaining time. The engagement score couldalso be incremented for the user who sends the request, though this maybe contingent on the other user accepting the request. In the context ofthe online-dating system 100, the engagement score can be seen as a formof “social ranking”, set according to the willingness of users to engagewith other users of the app.

Users' interaction scores can be used by the pairing algorithm 504 as acriterion for pairing users. For example, users with similar engagementscores might be more likely to be paired together. As another example,users with higher engagement scores may be paired with other users morefrequently than users with lower engagement scores, i.e. so that userswith higher engagement scores get matched more often, to encourageengagement. That is, the pairing algorithm may be configured such thatusers with higher engagement scores have a greater likelihood of beingpaired with other users. This provides users with a motivation to engagewith the app, in order to improve their matching chances.

Other mechanisms could also be provided by which a user can influencetheir matches, for example via premium accounts.

Gesture Inputs

With regards to the dating app UI, to create a streamlined but intuitiveinterface that makes optimal use of the limited available display spaceon mobile devices, a number of actions can be triggered by touchscreengestures in addition to those described above. This will now bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 11A-M. It is noted that each of thesegesture-action pairings can be implemented individually or in anycombination in generating a user interface.

In order to trigger an action during a conversation with another user(or potentially at other times as well, such as in the virtual waitingarea), the user can press, touch and hold, tap or double tap, ormulti-touch on any number of fingers, as shown in FIG. 11A. Having donethis the user can pull/drag in any direction to causes one or more icons1102 (“call to action”) to be displayed, each representing a differentaction that can be triggered. The icons may move from an off-screenlocation to an-onscreen location as the user pulls down, to provide anintuitive interface whereby the user “drags” the icons onto the display.These may be actions that interface with the device hardware or otherapplication features including but not limited to: toggling lensapertures, toggling camera lamp where available, capturing a stillimage, toggling recording modes, toggling mute audio or triggeringapplication menu systems. Having pulled down as in FIG. 11B, from therethe user can move in a direction to prime a call to action and highlightits potential activity (to the left, right and centre in the examples ofFIGS. 11C, 11D and 11E respectively). A user can reverse (cancel) theinitial pull/drag direction essentially resetting the visibility of anycall to action icons and un-priming any selected call to actions, asshown in FIG. 11F. Alternatively, the user can release his finger orfingers from the screen trigger the currently selected action (FIG.11G). At this point, the action icons are removed from the availablescreen real estate until is invoked again as in FIG. 11A.

Note that the pull-down gesture of FIG. 11B may be the same gesture thatis made to send the request 612. In this context, at the start of acommunication event, when video is being obscured, the pull-down gesturewill cause a request for de-obfuscation to be sent. Once such a requesthas been accepted so that video is no longer obscured, furtherperformance of the pull-down gesture will instead pull-down the call toactions 1102 as in FIG. 11B. In this example, the call to actions 1102all relate to the capturing of video, and are therefore only reallyapplicable when video is no longer obscured. Thus the pull-down gestureis “re-purposed” in a logical manner once the request has been accepted,whereby once the request has been accepted this gesture now opens-upoptions that have become relevant now that the request has been acceptedand full, unobscured video is being shown for both users.

FIG. 11H: During a conversation with another user, the video streamreceived from the other user is rendered as a receiving video object,which is full screen but not limited to position, size or shape. Theuser's self-video is rendered as a preview video object whish notlimited to position, size or shape. This is overlaid on the receivingvideo object in a limited area of the display.

FIG. 11I: As noted, to send a request 612, the of request 612 canpulldown to a certain point and release to send a request to thereceiver to initiate removal of video obfuscation; with audio availableto both parties at all times, Internet connections are maintainedthroughout. That is, the request is made when the users are alreadyconnected and exchanging audio streams.

FIG. 11J: Within an allotted time frame, the receiver swipes left tocancel/ignore the request to share video, which results in keeping allvideo obfuscation enabled for both parties and notifies the initializerof the request the receiver's response status message.

FIG. 11K: Within the allotted time frame, receiver swipes right to agreethe request to share video, which results in removing all videoobfuscation (for both parties) and notifies the initializer of therequest.

FIG. 11L: Dragging your own preview up switches to the back camera whenobfuscation is removed as long as the new preview position is greaterthan more than half the full screen height. That is, a user can switchfrom the front facing camera to rear facing camera by moving their ownself-video image at least a predetermined distance, possibly in acertain direction. Dragging the preview object in the same manner againswitches back to the front camera. In alternative implementations,movement of the preview object could trigger other camera-relatedfunction, such as activating or deactivating an illumination deviceassociated with an active camera to illuminate its field of view.

FIG. 11M: Where applicable, press, touch and hold, tap or double tap,multi-touch of any number of fingers on the preview object will togglethe camera light.

Returning to FIGS. 3A/B, it is noted that each of the functionalcomponents referred to above represents part of the functionality of therelevant media exchange system 300 a/300 b. In the above examples, themedia exchange systems 300 a, 300 b represent functionality implementedby executable instructions (software), when executed on the processor202. That is, each of the functional components represents a differentpart of the functionality of that software when executed. In thedescribed examples, these are specifically instructions of the datingapp 205. That is, each of the media exchange systems 300 a, 300 brepresents functionality of the dating app 205. Alternatively, at leastsome of this functionality could be implemented, under the control ofthe dating app 250, by software outside of the dating app 205. Forexample, some or all of the encoding/decoding operations could beperformed by an operating system (OS) of the user device 102, under thecontrol of the dating app 205 (that is, the dating app 205 could harnessnative functionality of the OS to provide the functions describedherein). Alternatively, part of this functionality could even beimplemented in dedicated hardware of the device 102, for example certainuser devices have hardware audio/video encoding/decoding circuitry whichcould be used under the control of the dating app 205. The term“component” is generally used to mean software, hardware or anycombination thereof that is configured to implement particularfunctionality. It is noted that the various inputs/outputs shown inFIGS. 3A/3B generally represent high-level interactions between thevarious functional components, and need no necessarily correspond to anyparticular configuration of physical or logical connections.

It is also noted that, whilst in the above, video is suppressed for bothuser by obscuring the visual content of their video streams, video couldalso be suppressed by not displaying video for those users at all. Forexample, an avatar image (static or animated) may be displayed for eachuser instead, which is replaced with their video stream once suppressionstops.

Moreover, whilst the above has been described in the content of on-linedating, the invention can also be applied in other contexts, such associal media. In this case, real-time conversations in accordance withthe invention can, for example, be initiated between users who arefriends on a social media platforms. Randomized pairing might also beimplemented in a social media context. In this context, the application205 may be referred to as a social media app.

Moreover, whilst the above has been described in relation to acommunication event between only two users, a communication event canalso take place between more than two users in a group conversationcontext. Accordingly, references to “a communication event between arequesting and a responding user” (or similar) do not exclude thepossibility of more than two users participating in the communicationevent. For example, a virtual “hotel lobby” environment may be providedin which users can mingle. An option may be provided for those users toenter private conversations in groups of two or more, should they wishto do so.

Moreover, whilst in at least some of the above-described embodiments,the same level of obfuscation is applied for all users (e.g. overlaywith 90% opacity), alternatively different levels of obfuscation couldbe applied for different users. This can be a user setting, e.g. a usercould specify the opacity level to be applied to his/her video. Asanother example, the amount of obfuscation that is applied to a user'svideo could be set in dependence on his/her engagement score, e.g. agreater level of obfuscation (e.g. more opaque overlay) could be appliedfor users with higher engagement scores, to make more “popular” usersmore “elusive”.

The gesture control of the present invention has been described above inrelation to dating services where people meet random people on the flyand need to protect their identity until a bond of trust is formedvocally first. However, it can also be implemented in a variety of othercontexts. In particular, the “pulldown to request unobscured video” canbe used in any context in which selective obfuscation of visual content,such as the visual content (moving image) of a video stream, is desired.

Benefits include, for example, enforcing intellectual property rights(copyright in particular), unique selling points for B2B(business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) application ideas.It is envisaged that this has the potential to become a defacto UX wayto show and hide a video stream whilst in communication with anotheruser and/or in broadcasting or other video streaming situations, such asvideo on demand or live streaming. This applies to the mobile space inparticular, and is envisaged in the context of many different mobileapps such as Facebook, Google, Tinder, Zoosk, SnapChat, Twitter,WhatsApp, Instagram et al.

It will be appreciated that the above embodiments have been describedonly by way of example. Other variations and applications of the presentinvention will be apparent to the person skilled in the art in view ofthe teaching presented herein. The present invention is not limited bythe described embodiments, but only by the accompanying claims.

1. A method of effecting a communication event via a network between arequesting user, operating a first user device, and a responding user,operating a second user device, the method comprising: initiating thecommunication event, in which each of the user devices captures a streamof audio data, transmits the captured stream of audio data to the otheruser device via the network for receiving thereat, and outputs, to itsuser, the audio stream received from the other user device; wherein avideo exchange function is initially suppressed for the communicationevent for both of the user devices, by first and second videosuppression components associated with the first and second user devicesrespectively, and the first user device transmits to the second userdevice, in response to a user input from the requesting user, a requestto stop suppressing video for the communication event; and wherein ifthe responding user does not accept the request, both of the videosuppression components continue suppressing the video exchange functionfor both of the user devices, wherein if the responding user accepts therequest, both of the video suppression components stop suppressing thevideo exchange function for both of the user devices in response,wherein each of the user devices implements the video exchange functionby capturing a stream of video data, transmitting the captured stream ofvideo data to the other user device via the network for receivingthereat, and displaying, to its user, the stream of video data receivedfrom the other user device, and wherein each of the user devices alsocapture, transmit and display the video streams when the video exchangefunction is suppressed, and each of the video suppression componentssuppresses the video exchange function for its associated user device byprocessing the stream of video data captured at that user device toobscure its visual content.
 2. (canceled)
 3. A method according to claim1, wherein the user input is a gesture on a touchscreen of the firstuser device.
 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the gesture is adrag and release gesture.
 5. A method according to claim 2, wherein theuser input is a drag and release gesture on a touchscreen of the firstuser device wherein as the user performs the drag and release gesture bydragging along the touchscreen of the first user device, a level ofobfuscation applied to the video stream received at the first userdevice from the second user device is reduced in response, before therequest has been accepted, whereby the visual content remains obscuredbut with a lower level of obfuscation.
 6. A method according to claim 2,wherein the visual content is obscured by processing the stream of videodata such that a partially transparent overlay is rendered on the streamof video data when displayed.
 7. A method according to claim 5, whereinthe visual content is obscured by processing the stream of video datasuch that a partially transparent overlay is rendered on the stream ofvideo data when displayed, wherein as the user performs the drag andrelease gesture by dragging along the touchscreen of the first userdevice, in response an opacity of the overlay is reduced from an initialnon-zero value to a new non-zero value, thereby reducing the level ofobfuscation.
 8. A method according to claim 2 wherein the visual contentis obscured by applying a face-concealing filter to the stream of videodata.
 9. A method according to claim 5, wherein the visual content isobscured by applying a face-concealing filter to the stream of videodata, wherein the level of obfuscation is reduced by adapting at leastone parameter of the face-concealing filter, to reduce an extent towhich a face in the visual content is concealed.
 10. A method accordingto claim 1, wherein the responding user accepts the request by making afirst gesture on a touchscreen of the second user device, and rejectsthe request by making a second gesture on the touchscreen of the seconduser device.
 11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the first andsecond gestures are both instigated by a drag action on the touchscreenof the second device in an initial direction, wherein the first gestureis completed by a subsequent drag and release action in one of thedirections perpendicular to the initial direction, and the secondgesture is completed by a subsequent drag and release action in theother direction perpendicular to the initial direction; or wherein thefirst gesture is a swipe in a first direction and the second gesture isa swipe in an opposing direction.
 12. A method according to claim 1,wherein each of the users has an associated identifier held in adatabase, wherein the identifiers are paired with each other in thedatabase allow the communication event between the users to beinitiated.
 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein in response tothe identifiers being paired, each of the paired identifiers is renderedavailable to the user device operated by the other user.
 14. A methodaccording to claim 12, wherein the user identifiers in the database arepaired with each other using a pairing algorithm.
 15. A method accordingto claim 14, wherein the user identifiers in the database are pairedwith each other, by the pairing algorithm, based on one or more of thefollowing pairing criteria: age, gender, location, friendshippreferences, dating preferences, interests, and sexual orientation. 16.A method according to claim 14, wherein the pairing algorithm is arandomized pairing algorithm.
 17. A method according to claim 14,wherein, for each of the users, at least one engagement score for thatuser is held in the database in association with that user's identifier,wherein the user identifiers in the database are paired with each other,by the pairing algorithm, based on their associated engagement scores.18. A method according to claim 1, wherein the communication event isconducted via respective applications executed on the user devices,wherein for each of the users, at least one engagement score for thatuser is held in a database in association an identifier associated withthat user, which is increased as that user engages with the applicationexecuted on his or her user device, wherein in response to a user'sengagement score reaching an engagement threshold, a function of theapplication is unlocked for that user in response.
 19. A methodaccording to claim 18, wherein the application function is a discoveryfunction which, when unlocked for a user, allows that user to obtaininformation held in the database about other users for whom thediscovery function has also been unlocked; wherein the communicationevent between the requesting and responding users is initiated by one ofthose users after the discovery function has been unlocked for both ofthose users, using information about the other user obtained from thedatabase via the discovery function by the user initiating thecommunication event.
 20. A method according to claim 17, wherein if theresponding user accepts the request, the responding user's engagementscore is incremented in response.
 21. A method according to claim 1,wherein the number of requests to stop suppressing video that therequesting user can instigate to the responding user is limited by arequest threshold.
 22. A method according to claim 1, wherein if therequest is not accepted by the responding user within a time limit, itcannot be accepted thereafter.
 23. A method according to claim 22,wherein the second user device displays a notification of the request tothe responding user, wherein the notification is updated dynamically toconvey an amount of time remaining to accept the request.
 24. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the video exchange function is suppressedfor each of the user devices by preventing the capturing, receiving ordisplaying of video data at that user device, whereby no video data ofthe communication event is displayed at either of the user devices whenthe video exchange function is suppressed.
 25. (canceled)
 26. A computerprogram product comprising executable instructions stored on acomputer-readable storage medium, which are configured, when executed,to carry out the following steps, in order to effect a communicationevent via a network between a requesting user, operating a first userdevice, and a responding user, operating a second user device:initiating the communication event, in which each of the user devicescaptures a stream of audio data, transmits the captured stream of audiodata to the other user device via the network for receiving thereat, andoutputs, to its user, the audio stream received from the other userdevice; wherein a video exchange function is initially suppressed forthe communication event for both of the user devices, by first andsecond video suppression components associated with the first and seconduser devices respectively, and the first user device transmits to thesecond user device, in response to a user input from the requestinguser, a request to stop suppressing video for the communication event;and wherein if the responding user does not accept the request, both ofthe video suppression components continue suppressing the video exchangefunction for both of the user devices, wherein if the responding useraccepts the request, both of the video suppression components stopsuppressing the video exchange function for both of the user devices inresponse, wherein each of the user devices implements the video exchangefunction by capturing a stream of video data, transmitting the capturedstream of video data to the other user device via the network forreceiving thereat, and displaying, to its user, the stream of video datareceived from the other user device, and wherein each of the userdevices also capture, transmit and display the video streams when thevideo exchange function is suppressed, and each of the video suppressioncomponents suppresses the video exchange function for its associateduser device by processing the stream of video data captured at that userdevice to obscure its visual content.
 27. A computer system comprising:at least one processor; and electronic storage coupled to the at leastone processor configured to hold executable instructions, which areconfigured, when executed on the at least one processor, to carry outthe following steps, to effect a communication event via a networkbetween a requesting user, operating a first user device, and aresponding user, operating a second user device: initiating thecommunication event, in which each of the user devices captures a streamof audio data, transmits the captured stream of audio data to the otheruser device via the network for receiving thereat, and outputs, to itsuser, the audio stream received from the other user device; wherein avideo exchange function is initially suppressed for the communicationevent for both of the user devices, by first and second videosuppression components associated with the first and second user devicesrespectively, and the first user device transmits to the second userdevice, in response to a user input from the requesting user, a requestto stop suppressing video for the communication event; and wherein ifthe responding user does not accept the request, both of the videosuppression components continue suppressing the video exchange functionfor both of the user devices, wherein if the responding user accepts therequest, both of the video suppression components stop suppressing thevideo exchange function for both of the user devices in response,wherein each of the user devices implements the video exchange functionby capturing a stream of video data, transmitting the captured stream ofvideo data to the other user device via the network for receivingthereat, and displaying, to its user, the stream of video data receivedfrom the other user device, and wherein each of the user devices alsocapture, transmit and display the video streams when the video exchangefunction is suppressed, and each of the video suppression componentssuppresses the video exchange function for its associated user device byprocessing the stream of video data captured at that user device toobscure its visual content.